Cookies

[bobjim1705]

I made some chocolate chip cookies at the weekend (following a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recepie book I got for christmas) and they were delicious.
However, once they had cooled down, they went rock hard (and there were too many of them to eat all in one go before they hardened).

I'm planning to make them again, but I'd like them to stay at least partly soft/squishy.

Any suggestions on what I can do to prevent this?

[nickmo]

Bobjim1705 - probably over mixing has caused the finished biscuit to harden once cooked. If you mix too much or 'over-handle' the dough it doesn't give a good result and that could be the problem.

Try a little less vigorous mixing and see if that helps. The cookie recipe is a good so you should get on with it ok.

If you have an inkling to tackle Hugh directly, make a date to go to one of the River Cottage HQ events. Details at their site: http://www.rivercottage.net/aboutus/index.jsp Its easy to get to in Dorset, and you get to meet the team that put together the TV series, books and demonstrations. Choose the topic you fancy, and have a really interesting day.

[philandlil]

Try adding a tablespoon of syrup to the recipe, it may change the flavour slightly though.

[Donquixote]

The prime suspect for your cookies turning out too hard/brittle is an excess of sugar. The problem is, recipes very rarely work exactly as stated, due to loads of different factors affecting the ingredients. Something as simple as the age of your flour can drastically affect the recipe. Try cutting down on the sugar slightly, and maybe upping the fat content a little to prevent the cookies drying out quite so much. Just a case of trial and error, i'm afraid!